Map of the Azores from a Latin edition of Ortelius' "Theatrum Orbis Terrarum", with three elaborate cartouches and decorative motifs of ships and a whale. The habitations on the islands are marked and named. They had been "officially" discovered by Portugese navigators in 1427 and settled beginning in the 1430s, some 150 years before the publication of this map. The date of production is given in the largest cartouche.
Trimmed margins; rebacked.
At bottom right, in the corner, someone has inscribed the numeral "136". At bottom left, in reverse, the number "6".
On the verso, at the point where the left end of the banner on which the title is printed appears on the recto, what may be the same hand has inscribed the numeral 143. This is visible only when the laid-paper backing, which is attached to the map at the center, is elevated slightly.
